Torn Hearts

Chapter Two.

Mother Knows Best

5 Years Prior (2010)

 “Wow. A date?” my mother asked as I stepped into the kitchen.

            “Yeah, a date,” I responded, picking up my damp long hair and wrapping it into a bun.

            “Hm,” she said. Her non-committal statement making my eyes snap up to her. She was leaning back in one of the wooden chairs in our breakfast nook with a newspaper in her hands as she looked me up and down.

            “What?” I asked, looking down at myself. I was wearing skinny jeans and a floral top, it’s not like I was walking around in a bikini.

            “No. Nothing. You look beautiful,” she replied going back to her paper.

            She looked like a sexy schoolteacher. I mean, really. That’s what all the kids I grew up with said about her, that she was a “milf, in a sexy school teacher kind of way, with her long wavy blonde hair and her librarian glasses.”

            “Spit it out, Bettina, you know you want to,” I said, turning to get myself a bottle of water. I smiled when she groaned. She hated when I called her by her first name. The sound of the newspaper folding let me know I had her attention, and when I turned to face her again, she signaled for me to sit in front of her, so I did. I had fifteen minutes to kill, anyway.

            “I haven’t seen you date anybody, or heard you mention any guys, for that matter since Jensen left,” she said, cutting straight to the chase. My mother was no bullshit like that.

            My eyes fell to the paper on the table, away from her questioning blue eyes. The headline story was about the Clark Estate, again.

            “Maybe I hadn’t met anybody worth mentioning until now,” I said, bringing my eyes to hers again.

            She raised her eyebrows. “Really? So who is this guy worth mentioning?”

            I bristled, feeling like if she caught me in a lie. “What does it matter anyway? You guys hated me and Jensen together.”

            “Nobody ever said we didn’t like you guys together,” she said.

            “You didn’t have to, mom. It was pretty clear. Dad doesn’t like him because he’s broke and you don’t like him because you know he’ll never be a doctor or lawyer or whatever else fantasy man you envisioned me marrying.”

            “Mia, that is simply not true!”

            “Really? Because I clearly recall you saying, ‘He’s not good for you Mia. You can do better than that,’” I countered.

            She looked at me for a long moment, releasing a long breath. “Mia, he picked you up in a motorcycle, looking like he rode straight out of a Sin City movie. What was I supposed to say? Besides, I know his reputation, I hear the way him and Victor talk when I’m over at Hannah’s house.”

            My nose scrunched up. I looked away, not wanting to hear what was said in those conversations. I knew Jensen’s reputation. I’d known him my entire life. I wasn’t his first, but I didn’t fault him for the man he was or the past he’d had. He was a good person and had a good heart, despite his asshole tendencies and even the bad boy appeal, which drew me to him in the first place.

            “He’s a good guy,” I said, feeling the need to defend him, as usual.

            “I agree. He is a good guy, and I will admit I pegged him wrong before, so why did you break up again?” she asked. I felt myself heat beneath her stare.